Never thought I would say that
by Ieesha Lenorma
Summary: House meets Edward Elric and his life starts a journey it's never been on before. Of course this only started because Edward was in the wrong place at the wrong time and House was too curious to let go. Post 2003 anime. Parental House. Rated T for precaution and a combination of House's and Ed's mouth
1. A bundle of red, black and gold

**Hey, I'm still alive. So there a few things you might want to know. This isn't really set around any particular part of House but if you must have a spot probably late season 2. It is set after the end of the 2003 anime of Fullmetal Alchemist. But with a few slight differences, 1st difference, passing through lands you in America early 2000s, 2nd difference, the gate less passing through it as equivalent of dying, it compensates for the loss by granting the person passing though with his\her greatest wish\desire, to the best of it's ability. So have fun guessing what each person's greatest wish is. Not that it needs to be said I own neither of these shows (in this reality) credit goes to it's creators, I don't earn money from this, I do this for enjoyment and to see what strange situations I can get the characters into.**

Chapter 1:A bundle of red, black, and gold

Doctor Gregory House was finally home after, what he would call, a long day at work. He surveyed the room it was usually messy but something seemed out of sorts. His eyes stopped on a small pile of clothes that he was sure didn't belong to him, a long red coat, black pants and a pair of boots, they were too small for him. He glared at the offending clothes, he walked over to it and prodded it with his cane. The bundled moved revealing a young blonde boy, "Not yet Al," he mumbled. House prodded the boy again and was granted with another mumbled response, "Mustang can wait," the boy scrunched his face as if he was thinking of something distasteful. "Whose Mustang?" House asked.

"Arrogant egotistical self-centred bastard," the boy muttered

"Oh that sounds like me," House said with a large amount of sarcasm. The opened his eyes slightly at the comment revealing eyes a colour that could only be described as gold. The boys eyes wandered sleepily over House before widening in fear the boy sat up quickly and shuffled backwards into the wall. His head made contact with wall with a loud bang, "What the hell," the boy yelled rubbing the back of his head with a white gloved hand. House watched the kid, the clothes he was wearing was several sizes too big and were sliding off his shoulders. In fact his hand barely made it out of that red coat even with it bunched up at his elbow. "Who cut my hair?" The kid yelled again looking furious, the kid stood himself up, his pants started sliding down too big to sit on the boys waist. He began to walk forward he didn't get far until he tripped on the long pants sending one his boots flying, it hit the wall leaving a dusty boot print. House looked over to way the kid had been laying noticing scorch marks on his floor and then over to the kid the same scorch marks were on his clothing. The kids pulled himself up into a sitting position a scowl upon his face. "What is wrong with me?" He yelled again not as loud as before. He began sobbing to both their surprise "Great now I'm crying. What is wrong with me?" He said through the sobs. House stared slightly gob smacked at the kid, he wasn't the type to be good a comfort and reassurance. He sat down beside the boy and gently began to rub the boy's back. The boy tensed clearly uncomfortable with the action. House stopped but the boy didn't relax instead he became even more tense. "Leave me alone," the boy yelled, his right hand flying around so fast that his glove flew off. The sound of flesh striking flesh resounded around the room. The boy jumped at the sound and his eyes widened at the sight of his own hand. He opened his mouth then closed it again, he chewed on his lip. His hand was still pressed against House's cheek. "May I please borrow a mirror?" He asked his voice quiet and quavering, he honestly sounded petrified.

"There is a bathroom just behind that door," House said curious at the boy's request. House pointed to a door. The boy nodded got up moving slowly so he wouldn't trip over his pants. He shut the bathroom door behind him.

House waited for the boy to come out of the bathroom but he didn't. After half an hour House opened the door. The kid was curled up against the wall. His clothes abandoned in a pile to the side except for his coat which he had wrapped around him like a blanket, it didn't do much to protect against the cold tiles. He was shivering and House was sure he was crying again. Weary of the kid's fear and potentially violent outbursts, House remained at the doorway as he spoke "The way I see it we've got three options, one, I kick you out on the streets and assume you can get home," the kid noticed House's presence, sitting up. The coat fell off his shoulders showing off the well defined muscles that belonged on a athlete not a child, making House uncomfortable. "Two, we go down the police station tonight and neither of us get any sleep or, three, you sleep on my couch tonight and we go down to the police station in the morning. I personally like three it means I have a legitimate reason to be late for work." House said watching the boy carefully but he did nothing just sat there watching him. "Three it is then, I'll be making your bed. Come out when you're ready." House said after an uncomfortable silence.

House didn't put that much effort into the bed, he quite literally throw a pillow and blanket into his couch. 20 minutes later the boy came out of the bathroom he had redressed with his pants rolled up and he had abandoned his gloves, coat and boots. He stopped under the light, giving House his first proper look at the boy's face, his face was covered in the beginnings of small bruises. These bruises also covered his arms and feet, giving the impression the boy had been beaten. "Hey kid, what we're doing before you came here?" House asked curiosity sparking.

"I... I don't remember. I have a name it's Edward Elric by the way and what would yours be?" The boy said snapping out of his fearful mood.

"Alright Edward Elric I have a name too it's Dr Gregory House," House said returning the attitude. "How old are you?"

Edward thought for a moment before answering "10 maybe nearly 11 I think,"

"You think?" House said not understanding how the kid was unsure of his age.

"Do you have anything to eat? I'm hungry!" Edward said deflecting the question. House looked into his fridge, it was a sad sight, there was a couple of steaks that looked like they wouldn't poison them. "Steak sound okay?" House asked

"Yeah sounds fine," Edward said he was sitting on the couch his muscles tense as if waiting for an enemy attack. The sound and smell of the cooking food was enough to draw the child towards the kitchen, House noted that he kept his distance, Edward licked his lips eagerly.

"So when was the last time you ate?" House asked

"More than a week ago," was the response. House did a double check the boy didn't look malnourished but House knew better than to judge that from just looks alone.

"Want something to drink?" House asked serving up the cooked steaks

"Okay," Edward said. House opened his fridge again the drink choice was as bad as the food choice he had the choice of milk or beer and House knew it could end badly if he got Edward drunk (not to mention illegal). "I've got milk," House said

"No I won't drink that," Edward said too quickly "is the water okay for drinking?"

"Yeah," House said pouring Edward a drink sitting down next to him to eat his meal. House watched as Edward 'inhaled' his meal, finishing it before House had barely started his.

20 minutes later Edward was curled up on the couch starting to drift off into sleep House had wanted to watched TV but Edward's sleepy form could help provide some answers. After dinner Edward had refused to answer any of House's questions. Sitting on the couch, near Ed's head, House began the carefully question the defenceless child.

"Did you run away from home?"

"I don't have a home, no going back,"

"Do you have parents?"

"No,"

"What happened to them?"

"Mum got sick then she died,"

"What about your father?"

The response was different to the others, his muscles tensed and he hissed out "bastard." This made curious, what could make a kid that age hate his father so much. House predicted the man had abandoned Ed after his wife died. "Who looked after you?"

"Looked after ourselves," House picked up on Ed's words.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"

"Alphonse,"

"Where is Alphonse?"

"I don't know, I hope he is safe," Ed tensed again and pushed is head into House's lap. House stroked the boy's hair, the silence was comforting and when House went to ask the next question Ed was fast asleep. House got up slightly annoyed that he couldn't learn more about the mysterious boy. House went off to his room leaving Ed asleep on the couch.

Laying in bed House tried to piece together what he knew about Edward Elric. His mum was dead and his dad had abandoned him and his brother. The two boys would have lived on the street before running into a gang or joining one with Mustang as their leader. Most likely the whole group was teenagers with Ed's clothes big enough to fit a small teenager not a small child. He must have not had much of an education and been with the gang for a while if he was unable to pin point his age. He must have done something that upset his gang, if he was starved then beaten and dumped in his(House's) apartment. It made sense but it was missing something vital. House popped a couple of pills frustrated that he couldn't figure Ed out, the story was right but the details and order was wrong. He didn't have enough information, irritated House rolled over before drifting to sleep. There was always breakfast.

 **There you go chapter 1. If you pick up on any (spelling) mistakes let me know. I'll try to have the next chapter up in a reasonable time frame. Until next time go and enjoy a hobby or two or three. Bye**


	2. Mysterious puzzles

**Yay! I did it. To be honest this took me longer than I thought it would. Not because of writers block or anything, I just didn't realise how full on uni would be, I don't have time to do anything anymore and I'm still failing units ( including the one that is meant to prove I have english competency, English is the only language I know) Oh well. Anyway as I said before this is after the 2003 anime so no Truth sorry (I really like Truth but he doesn't fit with what I have planned). I don't own these awesome shows, just my ideas. Read and Enjoy**

Chapter 2: Mysterious Puzzles

House was woken to the sound of someone screaming bloody murder. House was sure it was coming from the lounge room. Carefully he entered, surely enough Edward was screaming and flailing about. "Edward," House said, there was no response from the boy. House frown realising that this must be a nightmare. House leaned close to the screaming child and tightly squeezed his right shoulder. "Edward, I need you to calm down," House said calmly. It didn't help in the slightest. In fact it made it worse, Ed's left arm came around, punching House's face, his left hand grabbed at his right arm. His fingernails digging into his skin, deep enough to draw blood. House carefully pulled back the arm to prevent Edward from causing more harm to himself. Edward stopped screaming, he curled up into a tight ball. "I don't want to die," he whispered quietly enough that House only just caught it. House rubbed Edward's back, Edward's muscles relaxed under House's hand, soon Ed was back in a peaceful sleep. House was tempted to wake Ed and ask what he was dreaming about but if any of his neighbours had heard Ed's screaming, they might had called the police and the last thing he needed if police showed up was a distraught child.

Like clockwork, half an hour later, there was a knock on the door. House opened up looking directly at the tired police officer, realising he probably looked the same. It was 3 in the morning and neither was in the mood for pleasantries. "We got a call about a disturbance coming from this house. The reports said they heard someone screaming," the police officer said. House opened the door wider and pointed to Edward who was now sleeping calmly on his back with one hand resting on his stomach. "I found him in my living room late last night, I was going to bring him down in the morning. He had a loud nightmare that's all," House explained.

"We can take him now, if you would prefer." The police office said eyeing the sleeping child.

House shook his head, "Let him sleep, he looked exhausted," House said, the police officer gave him a sceptical look, "look I'll bring him down in the morning, and if not," he motioned down at his cane, " it's not like I'm going anywhere in a hurry."

The police officer sighed "Fine, I'll leave word at the station, so if you don't come down they will know," the threat wasn't needed as if House would try to kidnap the kid, he didn't like kids for starters.

"Good night or is it good morning?" House said waving (in a sarcastic manner) at the leaving police officer. Walking past Edward on his way back to his room. He stopped to ponder at the strange young boy he had let into his home.

Morning light finally came, House wandered sleepily out of his room. He walked quietly up to the couch to see if Ed was still asleep. The sound of the rustling blanket made House realise, his guest wasn't asleep. "Good morning, Ed-ward El-ric. Did you sleep well?" House greeted the boy.

Ed visibly shivered, "Please don't say it like that. Ed is all that's needed. I slept well thank you," Ed said.

"Really, no bad dreams or loud noises," House said.

"No," Ed said, nothing more than usual he added mentally to himself. House had known that Ed wouldn't tell him but the boy didn't seem to be acting differently from last night so either the nightmares were regular or he honestly doesn't remember them. In fact he seemed to be a bit more social compared to last night. "So, police station right?" Ed said getting up off the couch.

Yeah, but after breakfast. You can't forget breakfast," House said

"Fine, what you got?" Ed said sitting in the same place he had sat last night for dinner.

"Let's see, cereal, cornflakes or rice bubbles, and toast with butter, jam or peanut butter." House said listing what he had left in his kitchen.

"Toast with jam, please and can I get some water as well," Ed said calmly. While making breakfast House had another go at interrogating Ed.

"So, had any luck in remembering what you were doing before you got here?" Ed cast his eyes downwards and shook his head. A clear sign to House that Ed was lying and just didn't want to talk. "Do you know where those bruises came from?" House asked, the bruises were definitely more pronounced than yesterday. "Your uncomfortable couch gave them to me," Ed said his voice dripping with venomous sarcasm. House suppressed a sigh he wasn't getting anywhere. The food was placed in front of Ed and House went to make himself a coffee. "Dr House, what type of doctor are you?" Ed mumbled mouth full.

"Diagnostician," House said proudly

"Okay, Medical doctor. Diagnostics, so do you like challenging puzzles?" Ed asked. While it may have seemed like an off course question, House had his first glimpse at the boy's true intelligence.

"Yeah I do like a good puzzle. What about you?" House asked

"Yeah I guess I like a good puzzle," Ed said.

"Well, I guess we've postponed it long enough. Time to go to the police station," House said tasking the last drink of his coffee. "Hurry up," House said to the boy who was still finishing his water. In an impatient gesture House clicked his fingers, what he didn't expect was the rest of Ed's water being hurled at him. House looked over at the boy who had a distinct look of hazed fear. Ed blinked away the look then apologised for his reaction before muttering under his breath what sounded like "too bloody much like Mustang," House had to admit he was amused by the boy's reaction to his clicking and curious to know where the reflex came from but he didn't have the time to spend with boy to learn what secrets he hid.

House went to change his wet shirt and returned to see Ed out in the living room. His clothes collected from the bathroom. Ed put on the red coat and stuffed the gloves into his pocket, he didn't bother putting on his boots figuring they would just be a tripping hazard. He doubted House would have any better fitting clothes or shoes. So he glared with slight anger and frustration at the gate's idea to revert him to a child and as of yet he hadn't looked out a window so he had no clue where he was but he was guessing it wasn't Amestris since House hadn't reacted to his name and Edward Elric was a famous one in Amestris. Out of habit he began to fiddle with his pocket watch.  
"What's that?" House asked curiously.

"It's just a pocket watch," Ed said, House's words further cemented the reality that he wasn't in Amestris as any adult citizen would recognise the symbol of the State Alchemists and he suspect that most of the neighbouring countries would recognise the engravings as being Amestrian. The gate had probably dumped him somewhere where he had little to no hope of going home. He made a note is his mind to test if he could still perform alchemy when he had some time to himself.

"Where did you get it from?" House asked, he watched Ed blink clearly being startled out of deep thought. "The pocket watch, where did you get it from?" he asked again

"Oh, A friend gave it to me," Ed said

"Birthday present or something," House said thinking it was a strange gift for a kid that age.

"It was confirm I was one of them," Ed said lazily. The idea of Ed being in a gang had been slipping throughout the morning instead the idea of him being in some sort of cult was seeming more possible. He was showing that he had more intelligence than what was usually found in street gangs and the pocket watched hinted at some sort of formal membership and organisation The whole idea did leave an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

House noticed Ed's hesitation as House opened the door. Ed paused fearful of what he might find outside, he took a deep breath before following House outside. Ed tried not to stare at the cars they looked completely to what he was used, a noise above caused Ed to look up there was something in the sky. What he saw was like nothing he had seen before it wasn't a bird and something told him it was man made. "That plane's flying a bit low," House said. At least Ed now knew what it was called but the casual tone House had spoken about the plane made Ed realise that he was suppose to know about these things. He would just have to research it later.

House opened the door to his car and looked back at Ed waiting for the boy to get in. Ed stood slightly dazed looking back at House. "We aren't walking?" He asked sounding slightly frightened.

House realised that Ed clearly had little experience with cars and what experience he did have either was a bad experience or too long ago for him to remember. "It's okay I'm a good driver," House said.

"Sure you are," Ed muttered sarcastically climbing in the car. He sat on his seat arms crossed grumpy with the whole situation.

"Your shoes and pants are a tripping hazard, you look like you were just beaten half to death and I can't walk that far," House said trying his best to explain the situation to the stubborn child. Ed nodded silently but as they drove House could see the boy's anxiety piling up. He constantly played with the pocket watch. "Ed, I know you clearly don't want to but you're going to have to tell the police what happened to you?" House said.

"You really want to know, don't you," Ed said a smirk quickly flashed across his face. "I did it to protect my brother, I was willing to give up everything so he could be himself. I wasn't expecting to live." Ed had a sad smile on his face and it was easy to tell he wasn't lying. Ed cast his eyes down and stared at his right shoulder, his shirt and coat had fallen down to reveal the scratch marks. He poked them experimentally and sighed. "They weren't there last night," he said. He seemed to pout at them before falling back to playing with his pocket watch. House still wanted to know more about the boy but the he could see the police station approaching fast.

House entered the police station with confidence, Ed followed cautiously a few steps behind. Ed had stuffed the pocket watch into his pocket, he handed out death glares to any police officer that can within 50 steps of the boy. "I said I would be here this morning and I am," House announced loudly to the secretary. He gave a frustrated and confused glare to House before shuffling around his papers. "Gregory House, with the kid?" He said, House nodded. He was handed a form "Fill out the incident report and we'll take the kid. Hey Matt we got a kid for child services," The secretary yelled. A police officer, who can assume to be Matt stood up and started walking over to them. Ed surprising let out a low growl and moved closer to House, his finger brushing against House's shirt. "Come on kid I ain't gonna hurt ya," Matt said calmly. Ed gave House a brief begging look before hanging his head and slumping shoulders, he walked slowly over to Matt and following Matt out the room, although Ed was 10 steps behind. House filled out the paper and left the police station still thinking about the puzzle that was Edward Elric.

He had definitely discovered more in the morning. House was now sure Ed had involved in a cult, the way the boy was out of touch with the world, and his caution and fear of authority meant that it had treated Ed pretty badly. House could guess that they would "punish" Edward regularly and whatever they did "punish" him with made a clicking noise to produce to sort of fear he had seen after this morning's incident. They had provided Ed with some sort of education and House was sure Ed was smarter than he let on. House frowned he wasn't sure why he was still pondering the puzzle of Ed that case was closed as far as he was concerned there was nothing new he could learn after giving up the boy, but even as he reasoned this with himself he could feel his mind trying to tempt him back to the enticing mystery.

 **There you go. I actually stopped this chapter earlier then I was meant to but that should mean I might be able to get the next one but quicker because 1. I can't wait to write the next chapter and 2. semester break with nothing planned because the younger siblings are still at school of a good chunk of it and I get to go home and experience the new fireplace my parents put in while I was away. I really can't wait to spend the worst part of winter in front of the fireplace reading, writing and generally lazing about. See ya next time!**


	3. Reoccurring Nightmares

**Hey, I got this chapter done. Sorry it wasn't as fast as I said it would be. My break was busier than it was suppose to be and now I'm back at uni. Anyway thank you to the people who review it really makes me happy when you do that and makes me want to continue, so again thank you. I don't own either of these show just this little story of mine.**

 **Now onto chapter 3: Reoccurring Nightmares.**

Ed followed Matt into another room. It looked like a meeting room with several chairs around a large table. Matt motioned for Ed to sit, which he did. "You don't mind if I ask you a few questions, kiddo?" Matt said. Ed shook his head keeping his eyes trained on Matt, he was ready to fight or flee at a moments notice. "Ok, what's your name?" Matt asked.

"Edward Elric," He answered

"Where are your parents?"

"My mother is dead and I don't have a father," It took a lot more will power than expect to keep the emotion out of that statement.

"Who looks after you?"

"Nobody,"

"Ed I need you to tell me who is looking after you," Matt said raising his voice slightly.

"And I said nobody, I'm on my own and have been for several years now," Ed yelled losing whatever advantage his calm facade had.

"Ok, calm down I believe you. Next question, How old are you?"

"10."

"When's your birthday?" Ed hesitated he didn't know if this placed even used the same calendar as Amestris and even then the year might not match up. "3rd of February," He said slowly, watching Matt's face to make sure that the date existed. "Ok so 3rd of February 1996," Matt said. Ed nodded slowly, surprised that the years didn't match up by that sort of extent, that or he had travelled forward in time but he didn't think the gate had that sort of ability. "I think that's everything, for now. Let's go see if we have any better fitting clothes and I'll call child services," Matt said.

Matt showed Ed a to a large box filled with random stuff. "Lost property, this stuff has been here for months so its moved out back. See if you can find any clothes that fit you from in here," Matt said walking off to leave Ed to search through the box. Ed did manage to find black pants, red sneakers, socks and a shirt that fit him but he was really tempted to not wear the shirt because of the creepy cartoon dog on it that held a sickening resemblance to the Nina chimera.

Once Ed was changed into the new clothes and Matt led him back out to the first room. "Wait here, Miss Sutherland from child services will be here soon. Thomas," he pointed to the secretary "will watch you until she arrives," Matt said before walking off leaving him alone in the waiting area. Ed noticed a couch over by the side, it didn't look overly comfortable but his body was still battered, bruised and exhausted from his trip through the gate. He curled up on the couch and quickly fell asleep.

House waltz into the hospital, loudly and obnoxiously singing. He ran into the person he did and didn't want to see the most. "Cuddy, nice shirt I like the cut," House said with a "charming" grin. Cuddy turned to glare at House "Did you know that you're over an hour late?" she said. House ignored her and continued to "compliment" her shirt "The way it presents your cleavage really says you're looking for a fun and perky mate,"

"House! This is not the time or place. Just tell me your clever excuse of the week for being late and we can leave it at that," Cuddy said

"I was at the police station," House calmly stated

"You were arrested!" Cuddy said in a harsh whisper

"I was most certainly not! I have never been so offended in my life! How could you suggest something so disturbing!" House said raising his voice to further embarrass his boss.

Cuddy sighed and massaged her temple in frustration. "Ok House, Why were you at the police station this morning?" She said.

"I was returning a lost boy to their care," House said giving a child like smile.

Cuddy gave him a look, "That's not code for anything, I found a 10 year old last night. Blonde hair, yay high," House held his hand up mid thigh which was smaller than Ed was but that didn't matter, "Golden eyes, beaten up umm oh and he has nightmares."

After a minute Cuddy managed to regain her voice "Right, right just get your paperwork and clinic hours done."

House decided he was going to hang around in his office pretending to do paperwork while he thought of new ways to mess with his subordinates. At the sight of Wilson entering his office House perked up and decided to tell his friend what had happened. He knocked at Wilson's door before entering leaving no time for Wilson to actually invite him in. "Guess what I found last night," House said giving the impression of an excited child.

"What did you find?" Wilson asked.

"A child smack bang in the middle of the living room." House said using wild hand gestures to prove his point.

"What did you do with said child?" Wilson said skeptical of House's story.

"I turned him into the police this morning, Cute kid he was rather interesting," House said slightly distracted the Ed mystery was still tugging at his mind. Wilson noticed the look on House's face and he really hoped House hadn't done anything to scar the poor kid.

Ed awoke with the horrible image of Nina's murdered body at the forefront of his mind. A wave of nausea overwhelmed him and he unfortunately vomited on the poor woman who had woken him up. Al had learned pretty quickly not to wake Ed during his nightmares because of this exact reason. Blinking tiredness from his eye he looked at the woman she had a familiar face but he couldn't pinpoint from where in his jumbled and hazy mind. She was a fairly young woman with a kind face who was currently giving Ed a concerned look. "I'm sorry about your clothes." Ed apologised

"No, it's ok sweetie. Do you feel sick?" The woman said in a way that just made him feel uncomfortable. Ed shook his head but woman didn't seem to accept his answer. "I have another set of clothes in the car. The bathroom is over there. Do you need any help to clean yourself up?" She said, Ed shook his head, "That's good, when we are both cleaned up I'll take you to the hospital just to make sure you're ok." She gave Ed a sweet smile. Ed couldn't help but think she was rather innocent for a social worker.

Ed had dealt with social workers before, when his acceptance into the state alchemist program was released to the public there was an uproar from concerned parents. The state compromised by assigning a social to monitor Ed and Al's life. Ed had hated the woman that had been assigned to them, she was extremely nosy, stuck up, grouchy and always tried to interfere with his work. After 3 months he scared her off with the help of the Colonel, it was the only time he had ever been allowed to use flame alchemy. It was also the day the woman had decided to scold second lieutenant Hawkeye about her use for guns as "motivational" tools. Ed shook off the thoughts of the past although he grudgingly released he was older, and taller, in those memories than he was now.

The social worker gave Ed a motherly smile when he exited the bathroom. He hadn't been in there long but she had already changed and was currently holding his little bundle of things in a plastic bag. "How are you feeling, sweetie?" she said.

"I feel fine," Ed muttered loudly. She gave Ed a slightly hurt look and Ed couldn't help but notice the slight similarities she shared with his little brother. "Ok then let's get going," she said ushering Ed out of the building towards on of the cars. Once they were on the road she began to question him.

"So it's Edward right?" she said. Ed just gave back an affirmative hum. "And you're all on your own?" again Ed just responded with a hum. "Oh you poor thing, you must have been so frighten all on your own. Oh, look at you, you're covered in bruises. How did that happen?"

"I umm got into a fight, but it was nothing really just something I had to do," She gave Ed a concerned look and quickly realised that she was clearly upsetting him.

"Oh silly me I never introduced myself did I?" she said to release Ed from his quickly down spiralling mood.

"No,"

"You can call me Miss Sutherland, I'll be watching over you until we have an available foster carer for you,"

"Lucky me," Ed tried to stop the sarcastic comment he really did but he said it regardless.

"Bullseye," House yelled as his paper plane nestled itself into Cuddy's shirt. Cuddy glared at House and pulled the plane out before throwing it back at him, "That better not be the paperwork I asked you to complete," she said.

"No it's umm…," House unfolded the paper, "Chase's,"

Cuddy frowned "If you're not going to do your paperwork why don't you go down to clinic,"

"Cause I don't want to," House responded childishly.

"If you find anything interesting you can have it," Cuddy bargained.

"Would take it anyway. I'm getting bored," House said getting up and leaving the room. Cuddy counted it as a victory.

"Dr House, there is a patient in room 3 that needs seeing to, he was starting to fall asleep out here so let him rest in there," said a nurse. House walked into the room. A woman got up and woke the boy, who House instantly recognised as Ed, sleeping on the bed. Ed sat up quickly when he woke he began to gag, after a minute of gagging and trying to gain his breath Ed was finally able to look up at House a small smile forming on his lips. "Well, you're just another of my recurring nightmares," Ed said sarcastically although there no hiding the happiness in the look he gave House.

 **And that the end of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. I will try to get the next chapter up when I finish it but don't expect it to be too soon. Give me a shout if you see any major errors I do try to edit my work but its not my strong point. Thank you to all that read this and I hope you will comeback when I post the next chapter.**


	4. Emotional Whiplash

**Yay. Next chapter and I've finished uni for the year. This semester was just as full on but I think I'm getting the hang of things now. Sorry for taking so long but I have done now. Thanks to those who reviewed it really does make my day, its a real confidence boast and makes me feel like people actually care for my work (I always smile like an idiot when I read them). I don't own either of theses shows just this little story of mine. Without further ado I present to you:**

 **Chapter 4: Emotional Whiplash.**

"What are you doing here?" said House said.

"She paranoid," Ed said pointing towards the woman.

"I'm Miss Sutherland, Ed's social worker. He's here because he's covered in bruises and he's been vomiting," she said

"Only once and that was because you woke me from a nightmare, that's always a bad idea," Ed half yelled.

"You fell asleep again?" House questioned

"I'm exhausted ok,"

"And more nightmares?"

"They aren't normally this bad, they only get like this when…" Ed trailed off

"So you've had 'episodes' like this before?"

"Yes," Ed's voice was quiet as if he didn't want to be heard.

"Oh dear, you poor thing what would have caused this?" Miss Sutherland said gently pulling Ed into a hug, Ed stiffened and pulled away. She gave the boy a slightly hurt look but made no attempt to hug Ed again. "I've seen things that nobody should see, I watched my mother die, spoken and fought with serial killers meet the worst life has to offer. I'm just thankful that I never had to kill anything human," Ed said his voice barely above a whisper.

"So you've had to kill things?" House said

"I don't want to talk about it," Ed said.

"Not my area expertise but I would think the Ed is suffering from mental illness. PTSD seems most likely. I'd recommend seeing a psychiatrist for him," House said to Miss Sutherland, he turned back to Ed who was starting to drift off again, "Ed is there anything else we should be aware of? Any other pain?" House questioned.

Ed shook his head, "Nothing too bad, I'm a bit bruised but I'll live,"

"Physically you're fine," House said, Ed nodded to that, "get some rest and I'm serious about seeing psychiatrist, Ed it'll help you,"

Ed gave a quiet snort, "Don't pretend you think they can help,"

"They will help Ed," Miss Sutherland said.

Ed rolled his eyes and got up just as he was about to leave the room he turned back to House "I hear those psychiatrists can help with drug addictions," a smirk lit up Ed's face in that instant House knew that Ed was well aware of House's little vicandin problem. He wasn't giving Ed enough credit if he could pick up on that in the less than 12 hours they had spent together.

PTSD wasn't a term Ed was familiar with but House had called it a mental illness. Amestris did know about mental illness but not much interest was ever put into it and people who had one was either ignored or told they were crazy, neither option sounded nice to Ed. Miss Sutherland was guiding him back to the car she had that smile that adults give when they don't want you to know how worried they were. "What does PTSD stand for?" Ed asked trying not wince at the sound of his voice he'd forgotten how high pitched it used to be.

"Post traumatic stress disorder, don't worry we can help you," She said giving that smile again.

"Will it be harder to find me a foster carer?" Ed asked

"Not much most committed foster carers have training, lots of children that come into our care need the same help you do," she said. Ed held back a snort of laughter, he doubted any of the children in their care had come from a life as messed up as his. For starters he doubted any of them were 17 year old ex military in a 10 year olds body, some of the children had probably come from some horrifying situations but none would have experienced what he had.

The next car ride was short and while Miss Sutherland gently probed for answers, Ed didn't give her any answers. He was running around in his own thoughts, PTSD wasn't something that was really ever considered as an actual problem in Amestris but now that he heard of it he could probably name at least 5 people of the top of his head that probably suffered from it. He was drawn back out of his thoughts when he felt the car stop, he looked out the window the building he was in a car park, a big one, and he could see a huge building probably even bigger than the hospital. "Don't worry, we won't be here long, I just wanted to grab you another set of clothes," Miss Sutherland said. She grabbed Ed's hand leading him through the car park towards the shopping centre.

When they entered Ed had to stop himself from gapping at all the sights he saw inside. He allowed himself to smile and increase his grip on Miss Sutherland's hand. He looked on at all the new items before him with wonder and curiosity. So many times he stopped to get a better look at different things, there were even times when it seemed like Winry possessed him and he want to take things apart to see how they worked. Even the clothing was different from what he was used to, he had seen people wearing things different to what he was used to but it wasn't until he was surrounded by clothes meant for his age group did he realise how different.

They didn't buy much considering Ed had nothing other than the clothes on his back (and they weren't even his clothes). In the end they walked out of the store with a pair of shorts, a pair of long denim pants, a couple of plain t-shirts (from experience Ed knew adults didn't seem to mind as much if you ruined a plain shirt), a jacket and Miss Sutherland had insisted she buy him a backpack. It was about noon when they had finished and they finished the shopping trip by having lunch in a small cafe. Ed was munching away at his lunch, he felt good he didn't know why. He should have been worried, he had no idea what had happened after he sacrificed himself, was Alphonse alive? Did Dante escape? What about the homunculus he hadn't stopped yet? Were his other friends from the military safe? The questions were in his head but they didn't bother him the way they should, maybe he was being selfish but he didn't want to be that Ed at the moment. He wanted to be this Ed, this Ed could be happy, this Ed didn't have to worry if people were being kind to him because he was military or if it was an act. "Maybe I am being selfish but I want to stay here just for a little bit longer," Ed accidentally said aloud.

"Ok but we can't stay too much longer," Ed blinked startled at getting a response to the thought, "You're not being selfish," She said giving Ed a small pat on his head.

When they arrived at Miss Sutherland's house, and Ed was shown to a room, that he would use while staying here. They stayed out in her living room for a while, Miss Sutherland presented Ed with some toys, but Ed wasn't to interested in them after all he still had the mind of 16 year old and even if he didn't at this age he had been forced to grow up pretty quickly because of his mother's death. He settled on writing out alchemic symbols while Miss Sutherland went about cleaning up the house. Discretely during this time Ed tried out his alchemy but each attempt failed, with each failed attempt his hope of ever returning home lowered.

"No, no, please work," Ed begged to the transmutation circle, the transmutation circle was meant to transmute the paper but it remained the same. He knew had started crying and that only made him more upset knowing that he couldn't control his own emotions. He was crying and begging for one transmutation, one sign that he could go home and be with people he loved. He wanted his friends, his brother, his whole world but instead he was here stuck in his 10 year old body, confused and alone. Without his alchemy he was beginning to feel as if he had lost a part of himself, he had lived so much of his life upon it, it had been his genius, his mistakes, his answer to nearly everything and now it was gone.

Ed was so lost in his own inner turmoil that he hadn't noticed when Miss Sutherland had picked up the weeping child, she held him tightly hoping to calm him down. He didn't calm instead he kept crying until he exhausted himself. Miss Sutherland tucked Ed into bed and then went to make herself a coffee, she knew it was going to be a long night.

Ed spent a few more days with Miss Sutherland, during this time they had a phone call to confirm that he wasn't on the missing persons list, he had a date and time set for a school placement test since he had let it slip that he had dropped out of school and since they couldn't find his school record and he refused to tell what year he dropped out, they figured it would be the best way to place Ed. Ed had a few more emotional breakdowns and just as many nightmares. But finally a phone call came through to alert the two that a permanent foster carer for Ed had become available.

"She's a lovely woman Ed, she's taken in several children already and all have come out better under her care. I'm sure you'll be happy with her." Miss Sutherland said on the way to his new carers house.

"What was her name again?" Ed said hugging tightly to his meagre belongs.

"Oh, right I'm sorry. I did't tell you. Her name is Ms Mayfield. I don't remember her fist name, oh well it doesn't matter. I'm sure she'll tell you when we get there," Miss Sutherland seemed happy with the new carer so Ed felt slightly more relaxed as they pulled up at modern suburban house.

Ms Mayfield must have been waiting for them because as soon as they had gotten out of the car the door was opening and the woman that stood behind it stopped Ed in his tracks, "Hello, you must be Edward. Most of the people I know call me Dante," Ed knew two of Dante's faces but this one was the one he feared more, this was the face she wore when people in Liore were slaughtered to create a philosopher's stone, the face she wore when she hurt his brother and threatened to basically kill both Al and Rose. It was the face she wore when she allowed Envy to kill him and finally it was a face she had stolen from a mostly innocent woman. Ed could feel himself shivering as he was lead inside.

"Here is the room you'll be staying in. You can leave your stuff here," Dante said. Ed didn't want to leave his stuff anywhere but with the way Dante was looking at him he fearfully obliged. Out in the family room Ed tried to keep himself from shivering in front of Dante. The adults chatted away while Ed's anxiety kept rising for every minute he sat across from that woman. He was so jumpy that every movement Dante made nearly made Ed fall off the couch. He couldn't take it anymore, tugging on Miss Sutherland's shirt he quietly said "I don't feel too well, I think I'm going to lay down for a minute,"

"That's ok sweetie, I'll come say goodbye before I leave," Miss Sutherland said giving Ed's head a quick pat before letting him run off to the bedroom.

Back in the bedroom Ed grabbed his bag not sure how long he had before they finished talking, he had to put as much space between him and Dante. He had consider the fact that it may just be this universe's Dante but either way he couldn't stay there. Thankful that there wasn't strong security on the windows, he was easily able to knock out the fly screen and jump the fence. Then he was off into the early evening, no idea where he was going but to frightened to care. He was used to being constantly on the move, he would make do.

 **Thank you** **for reading this chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. If you see any major errors give me a shout and I'll try to have the next chapter up as soon as possible. Thank you** **again, please do come back when the next chapter is posted.**


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